ST. PETERSBURG, May 23. /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow is surprised at the attempts of certain countries to put the blame for the Ukrainian crisis on Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksei Meshkov said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday.

“It’s not Russia that started this crisis. We are greatly surprised to see the attempts at presenting Russia as the main party to blame for the developments in the country,” the high-ranking official said.

“We are interested in deescalation and normalization of the situation in Ukraine,” he stressed.